Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, Feb 20 – 26, 1941

Feb 20, 1941: To showcase the performance of the new Jeep vehicle, test driver takes it up the Capitol steps in Washington DC

Feb 21, 1941: Aircraft carrier USS Enterprise arrives at Hawaii with thirty Curtiss P-36 Hawk planes to be based at Wheeler Field. Image: National Archives

Feb 22, 1941: Japan fears French colonial authorities in Indochina will shift allegiance to General Charles de Gaulle, leader of Allied-backed Free France

Feb 23, 1941: German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop meets with Japanese Ambassador Oshima Hiroshi, urging Tokyo to attack British colonial possessions in Asia

Feb 24, 1941: Japanese troops begin construction of naval and air facilities in Cam Ranh Bay in French Indochina

Feb 25, 1941: Chinese General He Yingqin, pictured above, says his nation is ready to assist Britain if Japan invades Burma

Feb 26, 1941: One member of Japan’s feared military police, the Kempeitai, is killed and another injured as unknown assailants open fire on street in Shanghai

Categories: War

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